Ryan Blaney posted the second fastest lap in Thursday’s practice session for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a speed of 189.673 mph.

Blaney has not typically qualified well at Charlotte. In six previous attempts, his best starting position was a seventh in this race last year. He also has not performed particularly well in race conditions with only one top-10 finish that came last fall.

Denny Hamlin posted the fastest single lap in Thursday’s practice for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a speed of 190.134 mph.

Hamlin was the only driver to post a time in the 190s. This does not exactly make him a frontrunner for the pole, but he has led the field to green on two other occasions at Charlotte. He started first last fall before finishing fourth.

Todd Gilliland picked up right where he left off. The second-generation racer was fastest in ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards open testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway in early May, and he's top of the board in raceday practice Thursday afternoon.

Gilliland, in the No. 54 Frontline Enterprises Toyota, circled the 1.5-mile track in 29.408 seconds, an average speed of 183.624 mph, all in preparation for tonight's General Tire 150. Gilliland, 18, is one of the few drivers in the field who has raced at Charlotte. He finished 10th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race here last weekend.

Aric Almirola has scored three top-15s in four races on similarly-configured, 1.5-mile tracks this year.

His three strongest results all came in a narrow band of ninth (at Kansas Speedway) though 13th (Atlanta Motor Speedway). It is unlikely he will jump all the way into the top five this week, but could still be fantasy relevant under the right circumstances.

Landon Cassill has made six starts so far in 2018. Half of these ended in 20-something finishes with the other half in the 30s.

Two of Cassill’s 20-something results came on similarly-configured, 1.5-mile tracks with a 21st at Texas Motor Speedway and a 25th at Kansas Speedway. That suggests he could be a solid value in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and should be watched closely in practice and qualification.

Kyle Busch tied his career best finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in last year’s Coke 600 when he finished finished second. Charlotte is the only current track in the Monster Energy Cup Series on which Busch has not captured the checkered flag.

The second place title was the thorn in Kyle Busch’s side at the start of his 2018 campaign. Busch finished runner-up in three of the first six races of the season before his three-race win streak. Busch also has three runner-up finishes in his last 18 points eligible races at Charlotte. Busch has the ability to capitalize on his early season heat and defeat his final asphalt foe.

In just two previous ARCA Racing Series starts, Max Tullman is two for two in the top-10 finishes column. The Chester Springs, Pa. rookie will be going for his third top-10 run Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the General Tire 150.

Tullman is also bringing a new marketing partner along for the ride. Tullman will be featuring the State University of New Jersey, the Rutgers School of Business on his Mason Mitchell Motorsports No. 78 Chevrolet. To help prepare for his first career 1.5-mile race in ARCA competition, he participated in the ARCA open test at Charlotte in early May. He was joined by 2017 ARCA Racing Series champion Austin Theriault who will serve as a driver coach for Tullman at Charlotte.

Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the fourth of 12 XFINITY Series races for Ty Majeski in the No. 60 Ford Mustang for 2018.

Majeski on Charlotte: "I am very excited to be racing at Charlotte for the first time. It is in everyone’s back yard and everyone wants to win. It’s one of the toughest 1.5-mile tracks on the schedule, so it was big for me to have been able to test there. We felt like the test went pretty well. There were some positives taken away from it for sure, but we have some ideas to be even better this race weekend." Recapping Dover: In his first ever start at Dover, Majeski qualified ninth and led laps at the "Monster Mile" before a mechanical issue sent him to the garage for repairs. The rookie returned to the track learning and logging laps before an incident late in the race ended his day early, resulting in a 34th-place finish in his No. 60 Ford.-Roush Fenway Racing

Fury Race Cars, which is making its NASCAR Xfinity Series debut this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will field Kaz Grala (No. 61 NETTTS Ford Mustang) for at least the next four consecutive events.

The No. 61 team is staffed by many of Grala’s crew members from his first 10 events of the season; Shane Wilson will serve as crew chief, while Grala’s previous spotter (Chris Lambert), engineer, car chief and two mechanics will join him in this new venture. This will be Grala’s first NXS start at Charlotte and fourth mile-and-a-half race in the series. He has one previous start at the Charlotte quad-oval in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Despite his limited experience on the intermediate track, Grala has won two championships on the 0.20-mile oval (Summer Shootout in Bandoleros, Winter Heat in Legend Cars).-Fury Race Cars

Fury Race Cars, which is making its NASCAR Xfinity Series debut this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will field Kaz Grala for at least the next four consecutive events.

The No. 61 team is staffed by many of Grala’s crew members from his first 10 events of the season; Shane Wilson will serve as crew chief, while Grala’s previous spotter (Chris Lambert), engineer, car chief and two mechanics will join him in this new venture. This will be Grala’s first NXS start at Charlotte and fourth mile-and-a-half race in the series. He has one previous start at the Charlotte quad-oval in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Despite his limited experience on the intermediate track, Grala has won two championships on the 0.20-mile oval (Summer Shootout in Bandoleros, Winter Heat in Legend Cars).-Fury Race Cars

NASCAR Next alumnus Dylan Lupton (No. 28 Fatal Clothing Ford Mustang) will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sat., May 26.

The 24-year-old Lupton will make his 34th career NASCAR Xfinity Series start and eighth on a mile-and-a-half intermediate track. Lupton’s best finish on an intermediate track came last fall at Kansas Speedway where he finished 16th after starting 19th. Earlier this year, Lupton finished 17th at Texas Motor Speedway after starting 24th. JGL Racing has 14 previous Charlotte starts with a best finish of 17th (Corey LaJoie in October of 2017).-JGL